Skip to Content

"COCKEYED HAPPY" NEWSLETTER

 

LOVE & FOLLY

Dear friends, 
As I organize files of research from writing Cockeyed Happy and work on my next project, I realized there are some background stories that you may like to see – like the creation of the Hemingway-Horne Trophy and how it ended up at the Sheridan library as you’ll see below. And watch for more “Cockeyed True Stories” to come in future months. Hope you enjoy!

Best regards,
Darla

 

The trophy as I saw and photographed it on my visit to The Wyoming Room while writing Cockeyed Happy.

In 1928, Ernest Hemingway and his friend Bill Horne arrived at Folly Ranch, a dude ranch in the Bighorn Mountains owned by the Donnelley family. As Horne, a Princeton alum, wrote of their arrival at the ranch in a first-person piece for the Princeton Alumni Weekly in 1979: “On a plateau 8,000 feet up, we reached our destination, the Folly Ranch, owned by Eleanor Donnelley. At least 16 lovely girls, mostly Eleanor’s Bryn Mawr classmates, were waiting to greet us—including my future wife, Frances “Bunny” Thorne. The place turned out to be heaven, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, with a swell cook, Folly the collie, and some active trout ponds.”

 

Bunny Thorne and Ernest perch on the running board of his Ford in 1928.

Several romances blossomed on the ranch that summer: Eleanor “Darn” Donnelley met Pardee Erdman and they married later that year; Bill Horne met Bunny Thorne, and they married in 1929, spending their honeymoon at Folly Ranch from August 24 to September 8.

As a thank you following his stay, Hemingway gifted to the ranch in 1929 a pewter bowl he’d had engraved with the words “HEMINGWAY-HORNE TROPHY, Folly Ranch Loving Cup, 1928 Darn-Pardee, 1929 Bunny-Bill.”

 

The Loving Cup as pictured in the Judy Slack/The Wyoming Room book based on her research.

The trophy now stands on display in The Wyoming Room at the Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library, a gift to The Wyoming Room from Eleanor and Pardee’s daughter Lynn Diego Saez-Falcon on August 23, 2011. The bowl is part of a Hemingway archive chronicling Hemingway’s time in the Sheridan/Big Horn area of Wyoming, gathered by librarian Judy Slack – whose research proved a valuable resource for my own research in writing Cockeyed Happy: Ernest Hemingway’s Wyoming Summers with Pauline. A photo of the cup and its story is also included in the book that Judy published, Ernest Hemingway: His 1928 Stay in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming.

Sign up here to receive Darla Worden author news – including upcoming
COCKEYED HAPPY: Hemingway’s Wyoming Summers with Pauline news and events!

Past Newsletters


"Cockeyed Happy" February 2023 Newsletter

The upside of all this snow we’re having out West is that there are many wintry days perfect for staying inside with a book. In this newsletter, I share recent news about my book Cockeyed Happy—and more book news with my friend Marco Mastrorilli’s new Ernest Hemingway release written in Italian, as well as Colorado Homes & Lifestyles book picks.

"Cockeyed Happy" August 2022 Newsletter

As we enter August, I’m looking back on the recent events for Cockeyed Happy at the International Hemingway Society Conference in Sheridan and the Paris-style “salon” held in Denver at Integral Thread. Thought you’d enjoy seeing the photos!

"Cockeyed Happy" June 2022 Newsletter

Sheridan, Wyoming, is the place where Ernest Hemingway began his love affair with Wyoming—“cockeyed wonderful country,” he called it. Recently I’ve participated in two events in, and near, Sheridan...

"Cockeyed Happy" April 2022 Newsletter

Happy Spring! It’s fantastic to be attending events in person again, and I’ve met many new friends at readings, book clubs and through email. Recently a book club in Denver hosted me in person to discuss Cockeyed Happy and I Zoomed with a lively Tennessee book club who came prepared with a list of excellent questions.

"Cockeyed Happy" January 2022 Newsletter

Happy 2022! Exactly a century ago, in January 1922, Ernest Hemingway and Hadley, his first wife, moved into their first Paris apartment on Rue du Cardinal Lemoine—and his path as an expat writer in Paris began.

"Cockeyed Happy" Holiday Edition 2021 Newsletter

During this festive season, I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude, to new friends and old, for the support you’ve given Cockeyed Happy. In this newsletter, you’ll find some holiday gift ideas and a story about Pauline and Ernest on safari at Christmas, along with a bit of self-promotion (sorry!).